Cowin Has Eye On Seniority In The Senate

Political Pulse - THE LAKE SCENE

State Sen. Anna Cowin wants to hold on to her personalized Senate letterhead a little bit longer.

The Leesburg Republican said this week that she will make another run for the District 11 Senate seat when her first term expires in 2000.

She filed papers this month with state election officials declaring her intention to run again.

The way Cowin sees it, her best Senate years may be yet to come.

Starting in 1992, Florida voters limited senators to serving two consecutive four-year terms. Cowin is in her third year in office. The eight-year term limit that takes effect in 2000 will sweep half the senior state senators from office.

If re-elected in 2000, Cowin could be among the four most senior state senators of the 40 in office, she said. That's typically a recipe for a top leadership spot. ``I'll be able to make some real changes.''

Cowin nabbed a plum leadership post this year when Senate President Toni Jennings, R-Orlando, tapped her to lead the Senate Education Committee. Term limits partly prompted Jennings to look at younger members such as Cowin to groom new post-term-limit leaders, she said.

Don't accuse U.S Rep. Cliff Stearns of being a Grinch this year.

After bagging gobs of campaign cash and not drawing opposition this fall, the Ocala Republican apparently decided to share the wealth - with his Republican comrades, of course.

Recent federal election reports show Stearns handed out booty to Republican candidates and party organizations tied to his district just before the November elections.

The Sumter County Republican Party and state Rep. Everett Kelly, R-Lady Lake, each picked up a $500 check from Stearns. Lake County pachyderms got a $1,000 gift, while the Marion County GOP picked up $2,000. Stearns shared $31,500 with the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Could he afford it?

Even after all the gift giving, Stearns still has $844,427 left in his campaign coffers, according to the most recent federal election reports.

The Lake County Conservation Council sounds more likely to bite lately. The leader of the ``environmental watchdog'' group said this week it's time to ``stir up the membership.''

In a December newsletter, Conservation Council president Donna Morris said members are still stinging from the loss of former County Commissioner Bill Good at the polls. Good is a former council president.

The group also plans to get more active in monitoring the trash-to-energy incinerator in Okahumpka, she said. The plant owner, Ogden Energy Group, is seeking a state permit to burn roughly nine times more medical waste than it does now.

The Conservation Council protested the plant at its groundbreaking ceremony, and Morris said it's time to get back in that mode.

``Our action fund has been dormant for years,'' Morris wrote to members. ``It is time to reactivate this fund.''

She asked members to tack on an extra $10 for political actions when they pay dues this year. ``The last few years we've laid back a little bit, I need to remind our membership ... that we need to get back in the action.''